By now, the entire world knows about Nantes’ giant mechanical elephant, the new unofficial symbol of the city. I’m barely exaggerating here: the Machines de l’île, the artistic vision behind the elephant that draws upon the work of Jules Verne and Léonard de Vinci, also built “Long Ma”, a dragon/horse that traveled to China. Now there is Kumo, a giant spider that stopped for a couple of days in its birthplace, Nantes, before taking over other countries.

I’m not that enthusiastic about the elephant anymore because I’ve seen it way too many times, but I did want to check out the spider. We were lucky: it was about to parade around the Isle of Nantes as we crossed the bridge. Mark got a spot close to the spider’s back and we followed it around.

And then I turned around to see the elephant was closing the march. It was funny, actually.

The elephant’s newest trick is to blow water out of its trunk and spraying the crowd randomly. Kids love it and tease it until they are soaked wet. I didn’t want Mark to get wet, so I resorted to a good old MommyLie™:

“Watch out Mark, this is not water, this is elephant pee!”

Mark looked at me with a look of pity.

“I don’t think so! Pee-pee is at the back mommy, not at the front!”

Smart ass.

Kumo the spider
Kumo the spider
Kumo the spider
Kumo the spider
Kumo is moving
Kumo is moving
Mark chasing the spider with... a spoon
Mark chasing the spider with… a spoon
Kumo the spider walking around
Kumo the spider walking around
Kumo the spider walking around
Kumo the spider walking around
Kumo the spider walking around
Kumo the spider walking around
Kumo the spider walking around
Kumo the spider walking around
Kumo the spider walking around
Kumo the spider walking around
Kumo the spider walking around
Kumo the spider walking around
The elephant following the spider
The elephant following the spider
The elephant following the spider
The elephant following the spider
The elephant following the spider
The elephant following the spider
Elephant's foot vs. people's feet
Elephant’s foot vs. people’s feet
The elephant spraying water on the crowd
The elephant spraying water on the crowd
The elephant spraying water on the crowd
The elephant spraying water on the crowd
The elephant spraying water on the crowd
The elephant spraying water on the crowd

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8 Comments

    1. Zhu July 28, 2016 at 4:21 pm

      It was!

      Reply
  1. CHRISTIANE August 3, 2016 at 1:03 pm

    He is getting too smart for you !! #parentsproblems

    Reply
    1. Zhu August 4, 2016 at 4:41 pm

      😆 No shit!

      Reply
  2. Frenchie au Canada August 11, 2016 at 1:59 pm

    OK, I think I’ve caught up with all your holidays posts 😉 It was fun to read on my first day back behind a desk 😉

    Reply
    1. Zhu August 11, 2016 at 2:44 pm

      Welcome back at work! 😉

      Reply

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